Feds Want Petraeus Charged for Mishandling Classified Information

The Department of Justice wants to charge Gen. David Petreaeus, formerly the supreme commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and former CIA director, for mishandling classified information. He apparently passed some of that information on to his mistress, who was writing a book about him.

Federal prosecutors handling the case of David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA, have recommended that charges be filed against him for mishandling classified information, according to federal officials.

No charges have been filed, and it’s up to Attorney General Eric Holder to decide whether the facts assembled by the FBI, and the case built by prosecutors, merit going to court.

Petraeus, a retired four-star general and once America’s top man in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, became CIA director in 2011. The question has been whether he gave classified information to a woman who was writing a book about him — a woman who was also his mistress.

No one who ordered or carried out torture has ever been charged. The head of the NSA lied under oath to Congress and was never charged and still has his job. The current CIA director illegally spied on Senate staffers and lied about it and was never charged and still has his job. But this guy they want to go after? Interesting standards. Hey Obama, what happened to that “we have to look forward, not backward”? Oh yeah, that only applies when it’s used to protect the powerful.

That means their shit-file on him is bigger than his shit-file on them.

That’s politics.

Kevin Kehres

And not Cheney for “outing” Valerie Plame?

http://drx.typepad.com Dr X

I had the same reaction. This is the guy they want to go after?

http://www.pandasthumb.org Area Man

But this guy they want to go after? Interesting standards. Hey Obama, what happened to that “we have to look forward, not backward”? Oh yeah, that only applies when it’s used to protect the powerful.

I’m pretty sure that Petraeus qualifies as “the powerful” by any reasonable standard, and he already has three or four sitting Senators, at least one from each party, taking up his defense. Of course it’s the usual trope, “Hasn’t he suffered enough?”, which is how you know he’s a man of power and privilege (only those with a long way to fall from grace are considered to have “suffered” when their reputations are tarnished; the rest of us scum can’t understand what that’s like).

At any rate, the proper attitude here is not to think of Petraeus as a small fish who’s being unfairly treated compared to past criminals, but rather that maybe the DOJ is finally going to hold someone powerful to account.

Kermit Sansoo

Sure. Patraeus is perfect; he’s powerful enough to kind of sort of establish “tough on corruption” street cred for the president, and he might be able to prosecute without the God’s Own Party trying to hang him for it.